Most doctors are behind the learning curve on genetic tests

My old friend, Steve Murphy, MD shared a recent USA Today article with me in which he is also featured. A few excerpts:

“The majority of people we see have a very strong family history of X, Y or Z disease,” says Murphy, who’ll be 34 this week. He doesn’t bring up genetic testing until after taking a detailed personal and family medical history and assessing such risk factors as cholesterol and blood pressure. “I tell them there are lots of ways to dig deeper. Then I also tell them the limitations.”

On the other hand, Topol says, doctors have ordered 250,000 $100 tests for a gene called KIF6, tests that were aggressively marketed. One KIF6 variation was thought to raise heart disease risk by up to 55%, but, Topol says, a study this month in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shot that down.